The Art of Making

The Process of a New Piece – “Entangled”

karianneartsy — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:14:16 +0000

Thought I’d share the piece I finished this week, along with some “during photos” and a few detail shots! You can check out all of my current work here, and older pieces here. I currently have two more paintings in process, so look for those soon!

Is started out pretty shaky…

..And the finished piece…

“Entangled” – 36″x36″ Acrylic on canvas

…Details…

“Entangled” – 36″x36″ Acrylic on canvas – detail

Stay tuned for some new work this weekend, and some shots from House (Jackson Street in Media, PA) where you’l

The Value in Terrible Art

karianneartsy — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:58:38 +0000

This week, I drove to my old house in Pennsylvania to pick up some old art supplies and canvas I had left there when I moved out. My hope had been to assess what was there and potentially use some of it back in my New Jersey studio– art supplies can be expensive, at time, and I am no stranger to using what I have or gesso-ing over an old or failed painting so as not to waste the canvas. When I got there, I found three or four old, painted and half-painted pieces, including a huge 60″x48″ canvas. The date at the bottom of the painting read August, 2005.

And it was terrible. Really terrible.

I loaded them up and drove them to my home in NJ with plans to get each into the studio and painted white immediately. I didn’t want anyone to see them– as far as I was concerned, they didn’t represent my passion, talent, or potential and I didn’t want anyone judging my current work based on this old, awful stuff. Frankly, I was a little embarrassed of them.

An hour later, before anyone else returned home for the day, I settled into my studio and started applying gesso over the first of the old, awful paintings. In the middle of thinking about all the great up-an-coming opportunities and events happening -very quickly!- for my career, I remembered this quote by Ira Glass:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

I realized, quite suddenly, that these old, awful paintings do represent me, my work, and my talent and potential. They represent the creative place from which I’ve come, the creative phase I have worked through– and my taste, my inner potential is why this older work disappoints me. I am not suggesting that I have “arrived” in any sense – I am merely recognizing, and inviting you to recognize, growth. It is this volume of work, these trials and errors, old an awful paintings – or drawings, songs, routines, stories, whatever you create – as valuable steps to realizing your (our!) potential as a creative.

When I was a child and learning to oil paint (my first major creative endeavor), I would get so frustrated that I couldn’t make the canvas match the image I saw in my mind that I would spend most of the hours I stood in front of the easel crying. I probably cried more than I actually painted. It took me years to learn that painting is a process – that layers and layers of paint, adjustments, shadows, highlights, walking away and coming back, and sometimes starting over made up a single, successful painting. As an adult, I am learning that being an Artist (as opposed to an artist) is a big, giant process in itself.

I will still gesso over the old, awful paintings … eventually. I am no longer in a rush, and there is something valuable in seeing the distance that my creative self has come. There is great value in all that terrible art.

New page added! Sketchbook!

karianneartsy — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:51:58 +0000

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend – I know I am! This week was one of those non-stop-isn’t-it-over-yet-how-can-I-have-so-much-to-do sort of weeks, and I am feeling quite grateful for the weekend. I have promised my fiance that I will most definitely clean the house and catch up on the laundry tomorrow– I’ve been holed up in my studio all week long preparing to hang some new work in a fantastic new restaurant space in Media, PA (House on Jackson Street, if you’re in the area!). So before I commit myself to domestic duties, I wanted to make sure to add a new page to the site I’ve been planning on adding – a page dedicated solely to sketchbook images and drawings. These are the pieces I do in preparation for a painting, just to blow off creative frustration, or sometimes, just because I love drawing with ink. It contains images like this one:

Be sure to check it out here, and I hope you enjoy!

Work in Progress …

karianneartsy — Sat, 11 May 2013 02:22:23 +0000

This is by far the largest painting I have undertaken in quite some time. I’m genuinely enjoying the space, and the progress on this particular painting, so I thought I’d share a few shots of the work in progress with you. Enjoy!

A Few New Ladies ..

karianneartsy — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:20:08 +0000

Some new work. All acrylic on canvas – see the full details on the current work page.

As always, contact me with questions, queries, or interest! Enjoy!

“Awk Fox” – 24″x24″ Acrylic on canvas

“Up” – 14″x18″ Acrylic on canvas

“Pink & Gold” – 12″x9″ Acrylic on canvas

The Artist’s Statement & how the @*#% to Write One

karianneartsy — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:06:41 +0000

I have struggled with the idea of an artist’s statement for just about as long as I’ve considered myself an artist. As a painter/illustrator, I was sure my visual pieces were capable of speaking on their own– in fact, I figured that if they didn’t, I had failed at what I consider the primary goal of all art, to communicate. Regardless, I kept coming across all the reasons I needed an artist’s statement, all the reasons I “should” have one, all the situations I would come across as a professional that would require it. And so, I struggled. I like to think that I am pretty handy with the written word, but writing about yourself and your work is an entirely different game altogether. There’s so much pressure there. Ultimately, in the years I have spent as a professional artist, I have never successfully written and artist’s statement, and, frankly, I have never needed one– but I’ve recently learned a few things about this elusive beast, and now I’m going to share them with you. Perhaps you will spend a few less years writing terrible things about yourself than I have.

Among those in the art world– and by “art world” I don’t mean you and I, I mean the galleries, dealers, and agents running this business– there are mixed feelings about artist’s statements and whether they’re necessary at all. It turns out, far less of these people require them than you may think, though some still look for a statement in introduction or even use them in shows. The problem is, most artist’s statements are just plain bad. In theory, they should offer some limited insight into the art itself– who the artist is, the technical process, the artist’s belief system of philosophy, or how the piece fits into a larger body of work, and the like– without stepping all over what the art is able to say for itself. The artist’s statement should be demure and totally okay with playing in the background, while the art remains the focus. The artist’s statement should offer insight and information without being required when it comes to actually viewing the painting (as a side note, if your visual art piece is not accessible to the viewer in some way outside of a lengthy and elaborate statement, perhaps you should consider becoming a writer instead…). And the artist’s statement should add to and compliment the work is accompanies, not distract from it.

Unfortunately, the increase in artist’s statements has come along with an increase in awful.

There are problems with grammar, spelling, and basic sentence structure. The statements come off as pretentious sales pitches full of hot air. Philadelphia art critic and writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Edward Sozanski says, “Most artist statements, 99 out of 100, are not useful, and they’re often ludicrous. A poorly written statement has turned me off an artist’s work. Being a literary person, I am influenced by the way people speak and write. A badly written or poorly conceived statement pushes me in the wrong direction. It shouldn’t, but a bad statement makes me say, ‘To hell with it. That person doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” He, along with other Philadelphia and New York area dealers and critics seem to share the sentiment that artist’s statements aren’t essential in making the decision about representing or showing an artist, however, a bad one can negatively affect the artist’s chances. You can read more about what they have to say here.

Artist’s statements have become so jokingly pretentious that there are plenty of sites that will auto-generate a nonsensical, lofty statement for you to use – like this one, the arty bollocks generator.

Even after all that, I still say write an artist’s statement.

Why, you ask? Well, some people, dealers, gallery representatives, and buyers still value a written statement and you might just find yourself in a situation or on the cusp of an opportunity where one is required, and it is certainly far better to have one written than to have to throw one together on the fly and hope that it’s good enough not to color your work negatively. Once it’s written, have someone else read it for common mistakes that could make you look bad. Spelling and grammar are important– even for artists. Then, you can quietly keep it to yourself, knowing that it’s there and in good form if you happen to need it, but that your work can speak for itself when you don’t. It’s usually a good idea to ask whomever you’re approaching, be it a gallery, agent, or buyer, and ask what’s appropriate, or if they prefer to have an artist’s statement. If you have one written ahead of time, then you’re good to go no matter what they happen to prefer.

I recently took a class at Artist’s U that dedicated a week of the three-week-workshop to writing a good artist’s statement. I found it extremely helpful in finally crafting one of my own. They suggested that your artist’s statement should seek to answer three questions:

What is it?
Why is it important to you?
So What? What does it matter to others?

They recommend that you artist’s statement:

Situate your work in the broader culture– you aren’t just showing it to other artists
Communicate our passion– what do you really care about in relation to your work? Why does it matter to you?
Communicate clearly, but don’t be overly concerned with “what other people want to hear”
Be honest and bold (not lofty and pretentious)
Focus on what makes your work distinctive, rather than what makes it normal, justified, or like other established work
Use clear, declarative sentences
Focus on saying what the work is, not how great it is (let other brag about you)
Keep the voice of your artwork in mind– if your work is light and humorous, for example, reflect that in your language

I had the opportunity to write my own artist’s statement in this workshop, which I will share with you. It was based on a three step process and feedback from the group within the Artist’s U course. If you live in or around Philadelphia, Baltimore, or South Carolina, I would encourage you to check out the Artist’s U website and blog and look into taking one of their fantastically informative workshops. They’re free and extremely helpful!

My Artist’s Statement:

“In a society that is drowning in the pre-packaged– where airbrushing, passably shallow, and diet-everything have dulled our senses– my highly illustrative work means to pull the framework from behind the image. I embrace the layers– the pieces that make up the whole are more important than clean, refined, comfortable productions. I believe in telling stories as much as I believe in taking them apart; in the open path between words and images and the power of both. I rely on white space, excessive amounts of water, type, black ink, and line work that is never still. I create visual images that are a process, and the process is what makes them beautiful.”

I would like to challenge you to write your own statement about your work– and artist’s statements aren’t just for paintings, they’re for anything you can create! I’d love to read what you have!

Ps- the image came from Endswell on here: http://www.thehighdefinite.com/

To Work for Free or Not to Work for Free? The Creative Question

karianneartsy — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 01:48:41 +0000

Once you become an artist– in any capacity– I can guarantee you that someone, somewhere is going to ask you to work for free. It might be a doodle, a drawing, a “quick” design, a piece that comes along with “tons of exposure for you,” or a “great addition to your portfolio,” and the person asking for it would like to use it without paying for it. For every artist who gets roped into doing unpaid work at one point or another, there is an online rant about why you shouldn’t be working for free; and for every online rant about why artist’s shouldn’t work for free, there’s a post or snippet about how artists have become “money obsessed” and have forgotten how to make art for the love of making art. And every once in a while, some huge company will have to deal with a bunch of angry creatives for trying to offer the “opportunity” for artists to let them use their work, again, without having to pay for it. It happened to Google in 2009, when the mega-company offered dozens of prominent and up-and-coming artists the chance to contribute their work to their newest web project and be paid in “exposure to millions.”

The artists were unimpressed, and even insulted, by Google’s offer. Thousands rallied, albeit digitally, against the company, who reported profits in the range of 1.5 billion that year and still refused to compensate the artists it was asking to participate. Still, despite the artists who refused the offer on principle, Google still found those who were willing to work for exposure alone. You can read the NY Times article here.

So where does the line exist for we creatives? Should we do work without getting paid for it? I would like to suggest that the answer is yes… and no.

First and foremost, as a creative, you are providing a service to society. You are exploring and answering questions of imagination, boundaries, and culture. You are making a visual record of the time and place in which you live. This service that you are providing– whether you are a painter, and illustrator, a graphic designer, a photographer, etc.– is immensely important. As such, you time, your talent, and your services are valuable. That means they’re worth something, and in this day and age, “something” is most often monetary compensation. At the same time, I am not of the belief that a a lack of active payment, clients, or commissions should stop anyone from creating and producing art. There is something to be said for creating for the sake of creating and for the love of what you do. Only by practicing our craft do we get better, and if you are a creative and you do not create, you open yourself up to experiencing great frustration and dissatisfaction in life. I don’t think that the argument of whether a creative should work for free is really asking- “Should you do work unless it is paid for by someone else;” and to approach it as if there is any suggestion that one should not create for the pure love of their craft or for their own sake is to misinterpret the issue.

Inevitably, though, you will be asked by someone to do something for free. Whether or not you choose to take the job without any compensation is entirely up to you and your own professional guidelines, however, here are some general suggestions I would like to offer as a result of my experience over the years…

1. Free Work Usually Doesn’t Pay Off in Exposure (at least not the right kind)
So you’ve been approached, like many artists, to do a bit of free work with the promise of “exposure,” and you find yourself– understandably– torn. Exposure is a hard thing to turn up, especially when you’re trying to make it in a creative industry. Yet the promise of exposure, if you do “x” for free (or even if the artist pays to have their art used. It happens!) is one of the most frequently used lines coming from people who really just want to use you and your talent without paying for it. In some cases, there will be legitimate exposure, but in many cases, the payoff will be nil.

If you find yourself in this kind of situation, make sure you ask a lot of direct, pointed questions. What kind of exposure will you get? Where will it come from? What audience will your work be exposed to? How will this help generate additional opportunities? What will the person asking to use your work do to ensure that this is a win-win situation? How will you be given credit for you work? How will your work be protected as well as promoted? Don’t feel nervous about asking such pointed questions in the face of a seeming-opportunity– trust me, if the opportunity is legit, the person seeking your talent will have no trouble answering your questions, or, at the very least, partnering with you to make sure that you receive the recognition, credit, and exposure you actually deserve.

Tip: Remember- not all exposure is good exposure. Make sure you ask yourself what kind of audience you want you work to be associated with and what kind of audience would most benefit your work and your professional reputation. If the potential audience in question does not line up with the type of exposure your work needs– or deserves– politely decline.

2. Your Work Doesn’t Lose Value Just Because There Are “A Lot of Future Opportunities”
Think of it like this: you are out on the town one afternoon, just shopping, wandering, and enjoying a beautiful day. You stop for lunch at a small restaurant that you haven’t visited before, and, to your surprise, the food is AMAZING. In one visit, this restaurant you never noticed before has become your new favorite place, and a place you know you will frequent. You can’t wait to tell people about the delicious food and amazing service, and you can already think of a list of people you know would love the place too. You then ask to speak to the chef and say, “Listen, I really love your work. It’s amazing and I am so impressed– how about this: I will pay you half of what the price on the menu says because it was so good that I know I’m going to be back a lot in the future.”

I am positive that you would be laughed out of the restaurant– after paying your bill in full. Not only is this an absurd notion, it’s just not the right way to start a business relationship. So, the next time someone asks you to accept less money than you normally would, or less money than you believe your work is worth, or do something for free just because there “will be so many opportunities in the future”– politely decline. Of course, future opportunities and long term business relationships are great, but there’s never any guarantee, and potential for additional opportunities doesn’t change the value of your work now.

Tip: In the past, I have used these types of situations to negotiate a bigger deal up front. At the suggestion that I accept less money for a piece because potential client “x” wants to buy more in the future, I have declined, but then offered a discount (one that I felt comfortable with!) if they bought several pieces up front instead.

3. Using Work as a Great Addition to Your Portfolio is Your Right as an Artist…
…not incentive to do work for free. This has to be the line I got the most after I graduated from The Art Institute as a graphic designer and started freelancing. Suddenly, people everywhere wanted to give me the opportunity to do their work for free and add to my portfolio. Yes, every designer, artist, and creative needs a strong portfolio, and yes, you should update your portfolio often; however, adding work to your portfolio is your right as an artist and as a professional– it is not an opportunity granted in lieu of getting paid for your work. It is assumed (and should be built into your contract, if you use one) that any work you do can be used in your portfolio or for your advertising your own business. The “opportunity” is for the client to work with you and end up with a great product.

4. Charity Work is Great– with Limits
If I had to guess, I would say I get at least a handful of emails every month asking me to donate some kind of work to a charity event, whether it be time to design a flyer or program, or art pieces for silent auctions, and the like. In theory, since I run my own business and I am my own boss, there is nothing stopping me from donating to each and every one of those charities, but I have to be realistic (and so do you!). When I first started working for myself, I would take these opportunities as they came– I reasoned that I was doing something good for a good cause and I was giving myself exposure. In reality, I was spending a lot of time doing a lot of work with no payoff, and, to be honest, in all of the years that I have donated to charity events, I’ve gotten a total of two directly related commissions. Not because the work isn’t good or people are uninterested, but because people go to charity events to support a charity– most of the time, they aren’t even thinking of business they might be involved with in the future. I had to learn to remind myself that while personal-Kari would love to donate time and art to all the charities that approached her, business-Kari could not justify doing so.

That said, I am a person that believes in giving back and supporting charities and nonprofits. And, remember, not all work needs to be driven by money. To reconcile this, I simply put limits on the amount of charity related work I am able to do for free at the beginning of each year. For example, this year, I decided that I will volunteer up to 40 hours of design work for two nonprofit organizations that I have long term relationships with (one of them being a fantastic art-based nonprofit in Philadelphia called BuildaBridge. You should check them out if you haven’t, especially if you’re interested in opportunities to bring art to at-risk communities around the word). I will also donate up to 5 pieces of artwork to charity events and organizations that approach me. When I reach the limit, I politely decline additional work, opportunities, and donations. This keeps me sane, allows me to blame the pre-set limit when I do have to say no, and frankly, helps keep my work in moderate demand. I recommend setting this limit each year, and sticking to it.

At the end of the day, whether you choose to do work for free, or not, is entirely up to you and what feels right for your professional path. Just remember– if you don’t value your time, talent, and abilities, no one else will either. Likewise, there is an entire industry of creatives all struggling with the same difficulties and professional path that you are. Your business decisions don’t just affect you, and every time you decide to allow a client to convince you to work for free or to work for less than you should you bring down the level of the entire industry. The only way that we can teach people that creative endeavors are valuable, and that creative services and products are things worthy of being paid for, is to insist that we be fairly compensated for our time, our products, and our skills.

“How long is too long?” Or, Why artists make terrible bloggers.

karianneartsy — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:21:31 +0000

Saying it’s been a while would be a massive understatement. I’m pretty sure I haven’t legitimately blogged since August. To be fair, I spent September through December finally finishing my last semester of graduate school, and am now the proud owner of a very fancy and very expensive piece of paper.

In all seriousness, my degree is in urban studies and community arts, and I am endlessly proud of myself for actually working through this and finishing, regardless of how long it took me; and I’m endlessly grateful for those people in my life who have supported me and encouraged me throughout the process. I am also pretty grateful that it’s over. Don’t get me wrong – I have always loved school, and I have always been a good student, but I was ready to be done this particular phase of my life.

I spent January and February recovering from the process. I know, that seems totally dramatic, but it felt like I worked nonstop for months and months and kept promising myself a break that never came. When January arrived and I had actually graduated, all the breaks I promised had added up! The last two months have seen me functioning. Not really reaching out and doing anything huge or worthwhile, but maintaining. Keeping the house, keeping my standard clients, doing a few small artistic projects, getting dinner on the table most nights, and not much else. For the first two or three weeks, I felt intensely guilty about this. Intensely guilty about not doing enough, taking advantage of my new skills, doing something that justified having this new degree, and, frankly, not blogging.

Guilt is a funny subject for most creatives– we all seem to feel it much more intensely than others because, many times, our creative productivity (and sometimes our jobs) rely solely on our own internal motivation. Most of the people in our lives don’t eve recognize our art as anything more than a hobby, and if we’re lucky they may classify it as a “side job,” let alone do they realize the work, effort, and constant self-motivation it takes to do something because you love it, and not simply because you get paid for it. No one pushes you to be a creative– it’s something you’re born with, and it often has to begin and end with the resources we have on the inside as individuals. There is no boss pushing and motivating, no company offering incentives and raises, and sometimes, there aren’t even parents and loved one pushing and hoping for your success as a creative. If I had a dollar for every time someone in my family asked, “Are you working yet?” I wouldn’t worry about promoting myself as an artist.

To them, and to many people, these creative endeavors are just hobbies. They tend to think of artists like one would think of professional sports figures– there are a select few who “make it in the big time” and the others are just hobbyists, like the middle aged men who play basketball after work every couple of weeks when the weather’s nice. It isn’t like that at all, in fact, there are thousands of us working day jobs, raising families, and dedicating every waking moment to a form of creativity that drives us, flows from us, and makes us truly happy. We all hope it will one day be sustainable. We all hope that it’ll be paid time, at some point. Until it is, we toil like it’s a second and third job– driven by this inner thing we can’t name or describe, and often guilt-ing ourselves into working more, doing more, and never taking a break. What we often fail to realize is that we could often work better, be more creative, notice more, and be more inspired if we would turn off the guilt-tap, take a step back, and do nothing.

Yep– you read that right. Nothing.

I attended a seminar this past week called “Building a Sustainable Life as an Artist” given through Artists U (an amazing nonprofit you should look into if you haven’t already heard them), and the speaker, a full time creative himself, pointed out that each and every person in the room, all artists of some sort, should have a hobby. He reiterated, “And, by the way, art is not your hobby.” He was talking about doing something that was unrelated to your professional and creative endeavors that can give you a break. Each and every person around the room, including myself, looked at him like he had seven heads. A hobby? Free time? But we all create in our free time!

And this, my friends, is exactly what he was talking about. We, as creatives, tend to have 1000 things on our plates, and we never take a break. We never embrace a true hobby. We never do something for the sake of doing it, for the sake of not thinking, of not creating, and it is sabotaging our greater endeavors.

I no longer have guilt about my hiatus. About not blogging for so long– I needed the space and time to regenerate. Perhaps I’ve lost readers, but I’d rather do something well for a few people than force myself to do it poorly and with no resources for thousands. As this month has progressed, I’ve been getting back into the studio. I’m making again, and I’m confident that I’ve given myself all the rest I need for it to be great.

Artists– do you have a true hobby? Do you give yourself a break from your own creative endeavors?

2012 in review

karianneartsy — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 21:21:40 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Story of “Move”

karianneartsy — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 04:59:33 +0000

The past two months have gone something like this: grad school, vacation, grad school while on vacation, grad school upon returning from vacation, a vacation from the vacation, final exams. Notice the lack of breathing in between – and the lack of art making, and of course, blogging.

Through the haze that is my second-to-last semester of grad school (so close!), art found me – even when I had decided that I wouldn’t have time for any side projects until the week after finals. Months ago, I signed up for elance.com – if you’re a commercial creative (designer, web designer, illustrator, etc.) and you haven’t checked out elance yet, do. It’s lovely.

I initially looked at the site because it had been recommended to me in my search for a web programer. As a graphic designer, I get a lot of clients who want me to make them websites. Since I can design them but not actually make them working sites, I normally outsource the programming portion. While I was searching through the droves of potential web-guys from all corners of the globe, I decided to also sign up as a contractor myself – extra work never hurts! That meant, among other things, that once a week I would get an email with a summary of the jobs available for bidding that most fit my profile. I hadn’t yet taken the time to completely fill out my profile (grad school, again), so the suggestions I was getting were a little all-over-the-place. Somehow, in my mostly unhelpful email from elance two weeks ago, I stumbled across a woman from the west coast looking for “word art”. Even with a blank profile and no history on the site, I bid on her job and linked my bid to my etsy shop so she could see some of the typography paintings I had already done.

She hired me immediately.

She asked if I would do a piece featuring the word “move” and the colors purple and teal. It just happened that there was lovely story behind the to-be-gift, and she was kind enough to share it with me via email.

I’ve left out names for the sake of privacy My client writes:

“I am a Realtor helping people buy and sell homes. Recently, my client and friend wanted to buy a home where I work, which is at the beach, and after 25 years of driving from her town house in the city to visit the beach nearly every weekend, she finally decided it was time. First, she needed the town house that she had owned for so many years to sell – and it did. Then, she found her house! During the shopping and escrow time, we each signed our emails with the word “keys”, instead of using more common phrases like “best regards” and such. It was a fun way to look forward to her finally having the keys to her beach house in hand.

Because she wanted to take advantage of a certain tax benefit, we had to structure the transaction so that she didn’t pay more than a certain amount, and it meant that she had to allow the seller to stay in the house – her home – rent free for 7 months. It was difficult for her to wait, but knowing she was moving into her dream home in such a short amount of time was well worth it.

During the 7 month waiting period, we both signed our notes and emails to each other with the word “move” – a fun and encouraging way to look forward to her finally being able to move in. At that point, she had the keys, and “move” became a much more fitting phrase.

Five days before she was scheduled to move in, she had a massive stroke.

She was in the hospital for two weeks and is now in rehabilitation learning how to walk again so that she can move into her much awaited home. She remains positive and is surpassing all of the doctor’s expectations for recovery. I just received notice that she will be able to move into her beach house in mid August – not alone, but she will finally get into her house.

He family is throwing a small party for her homecoming, to which I was invited, and I thought that a framed work of the word “move” as a reminder of the hard work and determination it took her not only to get into her house, but to learn how to move her body again would be fitting.”

I was so thrilled to be a part of an art piece with such a lovely and touching story. Human perseverance and determination are things of marvel – something to which art has spoken since its very beginnings. I wish the woman in this story all the best and a full recovery – and I hope that this small reminder that I had the extreme privilege of creating can act as just a tiny reminder of just how amazing she is and can be.